We hope you enjoy your visit.

You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
  • Pages:
  • 1
MPAA cracks down
Topic Started: Feb 12 2005, 09:05 PM (473 Views)
Necromantic
Reverence Lost
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Quote:
 

The major Hollywood studios have drawn their first blood in court against a popular new type of online piracy, obtaining a $1-million judgment against a website that steered people to downloadable copies of bootlegged movies.

Edward Webber, operator of LokiTorrent.com, agreed not only to pay the damages to studios and shut down his site, but also to give the Motion Picture Assn. of America voluminous records his site has collected over the last two years.

These records could lead investigators to tens of thousands of people who distributed and downloaded unauthorized copies of digital goods, said John G. Malcolm, head of the MPAA's anti-piracy efforts.

Malcolm said the site had more than 750,000 registered users and helped distribute more than 35,000 movies, songs and other items.

"It will have a lot of records as to who these people are and what they provided, and that information will be of great interest to our members," Malcolm said. He said the MPAA would turn over information to prosecutors "in appropriate cases," but did not elaborate.

Webber did not respond to a request for comment. His website describes him as a 28-year-old computer-network consultant in New England whose main hobby is building websites. He agreed to the judgment to settle the lawsuit the MPAA brought against him, but there was no indication Thursday that he could afford to pay the $1 million in damages.

The judgment, which a federal judge in Dallas signed Thursday, came less than three months after the MPAA launched an international crackdown on "tracker" sites for people using the BitTorrent file-sharing software. The effort in December also targeted people offering bootlegged Hollywood movies on powerful computer servers connected to eDonkey, the most widely used file-sharing network.

Also Thursday, the MPAA announced that it had filed a second wave of lawsuits against BitTorrent tracker sites in the United States and more lawsuits against individual file sharers. The organization also said it filed more notices asking Internet providers to shut down eDonkey servers on their networks and lawsuits against four websites that sold file-sharing programs. The MPAA also prompted authorities in Austria to raid operators of BitTorrent trackers and eDonkey servers. Malcolm declined to say how many individuals or sites were reached by the crackdown.

BitTorrent has skyrocketed in popularity over the last year because it can deliver large files faster than other file-sharing technologies. But the software has no built-in method for finding files; instead, users rely on people who run tracker websites such as LokiTorrent that act as directories.

These tracker sites compile links to digital files that are being shared online as "torrents," the format used by the BitTorrent software. The links connect users to the Internet addresses of the people supplying copies of the file.

Charles S. Baker, Webber's attorney, said at least parts of LokiTorrent were defensible in court. In particular, he said, Webber offered to drop links to any pirated goods that copyright owners found on the site.

But the studios had plenty of money for legal fees, and "there was nobody coming to the table willing to write a check for him to defend this lawsuit," Baker said. "Like a lot of David vs. Goliath situations, he's got stones to throw, but he didn't have any money to go get a slingshot."



i know it happened, ive been to that site >_>

The RIAA seems to be alot less active than MPAA is. many other torrent sites have been shut down, or shut themselves down due to pressure in the last few months.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Scott T
Member Avatar
Joe10 for Admin.
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
I remember when this happened to Suprnova.

I never really bothered with that other torrent site anyways ;)
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Necromantic
Reverence Lost
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
banmeplzkthxbai
Feb 12 2005, 08:07 PM
I remember when this happened to Suprnova.

I never really bothered with that other torrent site anyways  ;)

jah, suprnova took its torrent section down a long time ago...

XD MPAA has the dumbest messages though

Lokitorrent-MPAA Message

its down, so dont bother warning me for the link, it goes to an MPAA message
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
GDF
Member Avatar
Hey
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Bastards!!!!!!!!!!!!Oh well, I don't use Torrents much anyway. I expirimented some with Suprnova, but that's about it. Hopefully they won't get rid of Lime and Ares :'(
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Passive
Member Avatar
I'm a bit bored here in korea...
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Good thing I don't pirate songs off the computer, I just mooch off my friends :arr:
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Necromantic
Reverence Lost
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Hugh Tate
Feb 12 2005, 11:34 PM
Good thing I don't pirate songs off the computer, I just mooch off my friends :arr:

lawl, its hard for me to mooch off of friends...when dey all live somewhere else, i hate moving ;_;
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Passive
Member Avatar
I'm a bit bored here in korea...
[ *  *  *  *  *  * ]
SamuraiX Hiko
Feb 13 2005, 04:39 AM
Hugh Tate
Feb 12 2005, 11:34 PM
Good thing I don't pirate songs off the computer, I just mooch off my friends  :arr:

lawl, its hard for me to mooch off of friends...when dey all live somewhere else, i hate moving ;_;

moving does suck sometimes. I've moved only a few times (spent as a refugee in southern mexico) so i think i would know what thats like... maybe...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Maiz
Member Avatar
Lord of all things corn.
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
I haven't ever used one. I've thought about it but never did.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Glitch
Blasphemer
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
It looks like the Suprnova guys saw this coming. Well, they'll get nowhere by shutting down the individual tracker sites. For every one they shut down five more pop up.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Necromantic
Reverence Lost
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
^^^ basically. most trackers seem left alone anyways, like i said, the riaa seems to be calm unlike the MPAA. Guess its a good thing my tracker doesnt support riaa bands :angel:
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
aust1n
Member
[ * ]
bleh why can't we all just download what we want
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Curry
Member Avatar

[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
aust1n
Feb 14 2005, 09:39 AM
bleh why can't we all just download what we want

Because the Movie industry is losing money that they deserve.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Necromantic
Reverence Lost
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
Vulcan
Feb 14 2005, 09:42 PM
aust1n
Feb 14 2005, 09:39 AM
bleh why can't we all just download what we want

Because the Movie industry is losing money that they deserve.

although i dont agree with austin that we should be able to dl everything we want...i do have to say, that theyre not losing near the amount of money that they would be receiving...

i still cant believe they hit the guy with a million dollars in damages...i mean, he wasnt making money off of it....well, donations yeah, but nowhere near what he would have been if charging...

i had a funny recant to this but yeah...>_>
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Surferdude
Critic
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
I download most of my songs legally now off the iTMS. I use p2p on a rare occasion.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Necromantic
Reverence Lost
[ *  *  *  *  *  *  *  * ]
SamuraiX Hiko doesnt download much RIAA supported music, and NO movies...
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
DealsFor.me - The best sales, coupons, and discounts for you
Go to Next Page
« Previous Topic · Community Chat · Next Topic »
Add Reply
  • Pages:
  • 1